One goal of the ICEM rapid impact and vulnerability assessment was to help set priorities for climate change adaptation in Vietnam. The study is an initial step to fill the gap between global scale geospatial SLR inundation studies, which are limited in accuracy and detail for the use on the national level, and past national studies that have not provided quantitative analysis of impacts on populations, sectors and natural systems. The study provided explicit geospatial analysis that is crucial in focusing attention on the most important locations and issues when planning for sea level rise. A second goal of the study was to outline limitations that SLR assessments struggle to overcome. It provides some initial rapid corrective steps. The study also proposes fields for further development to achieve more reliable and detailed vulnerability and impact estimates over time periods that are relevant to national planning.

The ICEM study was an initial contribution to priority setting for climate change adaptation under the Government’s National Target Plan to Respond to Climate Change. In particular, a step towards implementing the following fields of action identified in the NTP:

Assessment of climate change impacts on sectors and regions;

Development of actions plans to respond to climate change; and

Mainstreaming the NTP in strategies, plans, socio-economic development planning and other local or sectoral development plans.

The report is available for downloading from the ICEM publications page or by clicking here [PDF 12Mb].